ROSE FAMILY 
macerated and soaked in rum or brandy they give to the 
liquor a peculiar and agreeable flavor, making what is known 
as Cherry Bounce. This flavor is due to a principle called 
amygdaiin, found also in laurel leaves, bitter almonds, peach 
and plum stones, which under the action of a ferment breaks 
“up into grape sugar, oil of bitter almonds, and hydrocyanic 
or prussic acid. This active principle exists in very many of 
the Rosacea, notably in Prunus caroliniana, a southern ever- 
green species which is extensively used in the south as a 
hedge plant. It is there against the law to throw the prun- 
ings of this plant into the street or where they may be eaten 
by cattle. Birds in fact have been known to be overcome by 
a too greedy consumption of black cherries. 
The bark of the Black Cherry is bitter and aromatic and 
held a large place among the home remedies of an earlier 
generation. 
The flowers are small, 
ple raceme. ‘The central axis is erect or curved upward in 
flowering, which begins at the bottom; afterward it bends 
with the weight of the fruit. Only a small proportion of the 
flowers produce fruit. 
closely set by short stems in a sim- 
The tree is large and sturdy with a spreading handsome 
head, and may be easily known by its smooth, shining, red- 
dish brown branches, for only the trunk becomes rough, and 
in young trees that is smooth. The spray is slender and 
pendulous. The smooth shining leaves are set alternately 
‘and rather close together, and often in midsummer heat they 
assume the poise of the ash and at a distance when only part 
of the tree can be seen it may easily be mistaken for an ash. 
The Black Cherry grows very rapidly, often adding an inch 
a year to its diameter. The wood is firm, close-grained, of a 
light red, darkening with age. It takes a fine polish and 
when perfectly seasoned will not shrink or warp, and is much 
used in the manufacture of furniture. 
1392 
